The height you can reach if you can surrender your false ego to your Guru and God

 

Bhajan Brahmachari

(from "Living with My Himalayan Master: Sri Sri Bhajan Brahmachari"):

Dirghanri asked Thakur, "Why did you go away from the householder's life and become a monastic Brahmachari? Or did you come prepared to give shelter to all of us wayward children of yours?"

After a long time, Thakur spoke out, 

"Seeing the way humans live in this world, my heart was filled with dismay. There are various types of men and women in this world. There are a few who leave wife, children, and happy families and go to the brothels to find joy with prostitutes. A few try to find joy in drinking wine day and night. And there are others who, in order to find peace, leave their home and go in search of spiritual powers, who worship the Mother Divine and wander in the forests and mountains. 

Bliss is God. God is Bliss. To find pure bliss in life, men and women leave everything and search everywhere, patiently bearing all the austerities and pains."

Suddenly he changed his topic, his face turned extremely pain-ridden. For a while, he kept quiet, as if he was remembering something very unpleasant, and then asked, "Have you seen famine? Have you seen war? Have you seen communal riots, mass murders, and genocide?" Dirgharni replied, "No, Thakur, I have not seen such things."

Thakur continued,

"So, you have not seen any of these, but I have seen them. I have seen famine; I have seen millions dying of hunger; I have seen during the famine a mother falling at the feet of a man begging for nothing but the starch that remains after straining boiled rice. Not even rice for the hungry, dying child! I have seen a mother crying bitterly, holding her dead, boney baby tightly to her chest who had died of hunger. I have seen communal riots in Calcutta between Hindus and Muslims where, in the name of God, religious people killed and butchered each other and spilled blood everywhere. I have seen a brother kill his own brother for the sake of ancestral property rights, I have seen when undivided Bengal was divided into East Pakistan and West Bengal, how millions of people had to leave their homes, their hard-earned belongings, seeking a shelter as refugees."

He could not continue anymore; overwhelmed with pain and emotion at those memories, he burst into tears. Dirghanri had never seen Tkakur in such deep pain over human cruelty toward others.

Thakur continued, 

"Then I cried out to the Divine Mother, I prayed to the Divine Mother. I could not remain indifferent to all this suffering of humanity everywhere. I fled from home many times, wandered in all the holy places, and spent nights in the crematoriums where dead bodies were burned to ashes. I spent months in the Himalayas in the caves and at the banks of Mother Ganges, doing penance to find the way to end all human suffering. Finally, when I got the answer to all my questions, it was simple. The whole of creation is under the spell of maya, the law of impermanence and illusion. Only the Truth that is beyond  impermanence is eternal and absolute." 

Dirghangi was sitting at the feet of the Master, spellbound. He could understand, though most of the things Thakur talked about were beyond his comprehension. Thakur looked so different today as if he was talking to his own self rather than to Dirghangi.

The Master continued, 

"To sustain the Truth, dharma, and human virtues, there is a dire need for the invocation and worship of Shakti, the Divine feminine. That is the reason I have installed the idol of Ma Bhavaharini (Mother Kali). I have been trying to make people realize that for the survival of humanity and the Earth, for the happiness and peace of all species, worship of Mother Divine is the way to protect the divine principles and establish peace on earth. I have never, ever asked for my personal gratification at any level, for name, fame, money, or possessions. Nothing mattered to me; the only thing I have lived for is to see all of humanity be happy by being worshipful and meditative of the divine feminine. That is the reason I became a monk, a Brahmachari renunciate, abandoning all other earthly wants and needs: to be of service to all of humanity, to be of service to the mission of Mother Divine." 

Other devotees were slowly coming in, gathering in the bigger, adjacent room for the evening satsang and bhajans, Dirghangi felt a deep sense of quiet dawning in his mind without any effort, He had never felt so close to Thakur and was overwhelmed with divine feelings. He waited for Thakur to resume speaking.

Thakur began with a low voice only audible to Dirghangi, 

"Do you know why saints and sages give up the tranquility of the mountains and riverbanks? Why do they come to live amid all kinds of people who continuously bring all their mundane worldly demands to them, expecting some miracle? It is because the seekers and devotees need to see amid their worldly life these women and men of God who come with all divine qualities, though living a simple humble life of a human being. They embody the attributes of God, like unconditional love, compassion, and forgiveness, and make every effort to bring about a change in the lives of those people in order to help them realize the higher purpose and the light of God's grace. They bring divinity down to the level of perception of common human beings, making the glory of God and the divine visible. Otherwise, how could the common person realize all that they read in the scriptures could be a practical reality? They need to see to believe.

Guru comes to exemplify what you all need to practice in order to find peace and happiness in life. Guru creates all the circumstances that are needed to push the devotee to the inner world from the outside. Sitting in the core of your heart, he pulls you from inside to his eternal home, where there is abiding peace and silence.

Once true faith in Guru dawns, once you grow total trust in God, then all the puzzles of your life will be solved instantly. You will be left with no more questions and riddles. One day, all the mysteries will become unveiled instantaneously. You will no longer judge good and bad. All prejudices will leave you for good. You will be flooded with an all-encompassing surge of the deepest feeling of pure, unconditional love and compassion for all living beings. Not just for humans. You yourself will become the personification of love. That is the height you can reach if you can surrender your false ego to your Guru and God and live the humble life as an instrument of his service and sadhana. His grace alone will transform you from human to an embodiment of pure divinity."

The time for the evening chanting had arrived. Thakur was led to the adjacent hall where devotees were waiting to drink the nectar of his divine presence and the bliss that he had come to share.